No More Handouts for Big Oil

Congressman Doc Hastings has introduced three separate bills (H. R. 1229, H.R. 1230 and H.R. 1231) aimed at recklessly fast tracking oil permits and giving the oil and gas companies access to drill in some of our most precious and fragile places – places that are vital to the survival of threatened and endangered sea turtles, whales, sea otters and other wildlife.

With Big Oil receiving billions in taxpayer subsidies, sitting on thousands of unused drilling leases and raking in enormous profits, they don’t need another handout.

Say NO to more handouts for Big Oil and YES to wildlife protection. Please send your message now.

Letter to

U.S. House of Representatives

As a constituent, a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife and someone who is fed up with all the pandering to Big Oil, I strongly urge you to oppose H. R. 1229, H.R. 1230 and H.R. 1231, legislation aimed at recklessly fast tracking oil permits and increasing the access of oil companies to even more of our precious and fragile wild places -- places that are vital to our coastal economies and the survival of threatened and endangered sea turtles, whales, sea otters and other wildlife.

With Big Oil receiving billions in taxpayer subsidies, sitting on thousands of unused drilling leases and raking in enormous profits, they don't need another handout.

The Hastings bills would...

* Force harmful new drilling in key wildlife habitat. H.R. 1231 would expose thousands miles miles of vital coastal habitat and communities to dirty and dangerous offshore oil production. It would put at risk the entire Atlantic Coast (vital for sea turtles, dolphins and other wildlife), the Southern California Coast (home to sea otters) and Alaska's Bristol Bay (a key area for walrus and North Pacific right whales).

* Sidestep important safety and environmental considerations. H. R. 1229 would give federal officials just 60 days to consider new permits for drilling, affording experts far too little time to adequately evaluate the safety and environmental implications of drilling.

* Ignore the lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. H.R. 1230 reopens lease sales that were cancelled in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Virginia following the disaster. The bill also deems pre-Deepwater Horizon environmental reviews -- the product of a process found to be inadequate by both the National Oil Spill Commission and the Council on Environmental Quality -- to be adequate and requires the administration to rely on these outdated, inadequate documents.

The Hastings plan might increase stock prices for Big Oil, it plan does nothing to address the "systemic" problems in the oil industry identified by the bi-partisan Oil Spill commission; it does nothing to help restore the Gulf of Mexico, or hold oil companies more accountable for the environmental and economic devastation caused by massive oil spills like the Deepwater Horizon. Instead, it focuses on fast-tracking risky and dirty production, bypassing environmental reviews and expanding areas that will be exposed to the dangers of oil development.

These three bills may represent the oil lobby wish list for 2011, but they don't represent what is in the interest of our coastal communities, the men and women who work on oil rigs, or the thousands of birds, mammals, turtles and other marine life threatened by reckless drilling.

For all of these reasons, I strongly urge you to OPPOSE H. R. 1229, H.R. 1230 and H.R. 1231.